The signal path: Poes rings the service Bell for food, the microphone picks up the sound, which then goes through a stereo volume pedal (it’s for attenuating the chewing sounds). Make Noise Maths is used as an envelope follower, which controls the sound of the Erica Synth Black Wavetable Oscillator.

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We at CatSynth absolutely adore this video and feline performance. And we are thinking about ways to get Sam Sam into a live synthesizer performance 😸

It seems to be the week of the Elektron Octatrack, as we have two or three of them in today’s pic. Also featured are the adorable cat Lucy, and a large modular synthesizer system. I recognize a Make Noise Tempi and Rene on the bottom row – we have that pair here at CatSynth, too.

Purim is the “most synthesizer-y” of Jewish holidays, given that one of it’s central rituals is noisemaking. This year we created a synthesizer demo running sounds from a gragger through several modules.

The demo uses a mixture of pre-recorded gragger on the QuBit Nebulae and live sound via the Mikrophonie and Make Noise Echophon. The full list of modules used in the Purim demo is:

Make Noise Echophon

Qu-Bit Nebulae (v1)

Rossum Electro-Music Morpheus

Mikrophonie

Make Noise Maths

Make Noise Tempi

Malekko Heavy Industry Noisering

I do wish I already had a Qu-bit Nebulae v2 for this project. You can see our review of v2 from NAMM 2018 here.

Purim is a holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from the king’s wicked advisor Haman, as told in the book of Esther. Traditionally, the gragger is used to mask the name of Haman when said out loud during readings.

Recently, John Lee, the creator of bayimproviser.com donated a portion of his extensive record collection to Outsound. And our friends at VAMP are helping us sell them to fund our continuing mission of promoting new music in the Bay Area and beyond. To launch this effort, Outsound held a benefit concert at VAMP on December 1.

I performed a solo set with my trusty Nord Stage EX, modular synth, and Casio SK-1.

As with most of my current solo performances, I try to combine both idiomatic jazz and funk elements with more experimental electronics. I opened with White Wine (instrumental) with the extended solo section morphing into a more free-form electro-acoustic improvisation that also included the garrahand drum. It moved from sections of disco and bossa nova rhythms to noise to complex harmonies from the drum and Make Noise Echopon module. It was a fun set with an appreciative audience of both attendees and record-store patrons.

After my set, Tri-Cornered Tent Show took stage. Anchored by bandleader Philip Everett on clarinet and electronics and Ray Schaeffer on bass, the band explored a variety of sounds and styles from noisy electronics and percussion to R&B grooves to psychedelic serenades featuring Valentina O on vocals. Anthony Flores rounded out the band on drums.

It was interesting to see how both sets explored the intersection of avant-garde electronic and acoustic sounds with more familiar idioms. Soul, funk, and R&B were present in both sets, but then we each veered off in different directions. Between us, we might have covered many of the genres in VAMP’s record bins!

It was a fine night of music and fellowship, and it’s great to see an independent (and idiosyncratic) store like VAMP flourishing in downtown Oakland. You can find out more about them here. And please visit Outsound’s website to find out about upcoming programs and how you can help support our work bring new music to our community.

Yes, it’s not a cat, but how often does one encounter a banana slug-and-synth picture? 😸

By Ryan Page on Facebook.

We occasionally have banana slugs that sneak into our house. Before releasing it back into the wild I let it spend a minute jamming on my synth using the touchplates on the Rene. (Please note that it was treated very gently and was allowed to crawl onto the synth rather than being picked up or pushed.)

In the 5 years I lived in Santa Cruz, I never actually had a banana slug visit HQ…